Elixir is losing our lead guitarist.
It's a bummer because we all love the guy and he really rocks. Health problems and family issues are catching up with him, however. We're going to miss Jerry. Sux to be lead guitarless.
So, I called another lead guitarist, I know. Pat. He was interested. Came out for an audition-type thing last week with Jerry there to check him out. Played our gig with us Saturday night. Again, with Jerry there. Everyone likes him. He's in.
Pat's sort of a strange lead guitarist, though. I've played with him before in another band and I sort of noticed these things then.
- He gets along with everyone.
- Is very helpful around the studio in a handyman-ish kind of way.
- Doesn't seem to have that big ego thing.
- Can listen to a song he's never heard before one time then nail it.
- Rarely imposes an opinion, even when asked.
- Doesn't keep his amp jacked up too loud after being asked a dozen times to turn down (actually, I've never known a time when there was a need to ask Pat to turn down).
- Can sing.
- And write songs.
- Doesn't fiddle with his gear all the time while everyone's standing there waiting for him to start the next song. (Except for tonight when his reverb wasn't working right. That's the first time I've seen him hold things up. Ever.)
- Owns a lot of cool lighting stuff.
- And a smoke machine.
- That he doesn't mind hauling to gigs and setting up by himself while the rest of the band sets up the sound.
- Is pretty much willing to play whatever song everyone else wants to play.
- He'll even sing a song he doesn't really like all that much.
- Well, at least he'll try.
I'm like, that's not the lead guitar player personality profile. The guy is so stinkin' humble, I'm beginning to question if he can really play guitar. Maybe he's just faking it. I see his fingers moving on the frets, but that doesn't mean anything. Maybe he really has something playing out of his amp that he controls via the guitar fretboard. Okay, that's called playing guitar. Hmmm... Something's just not right and I can't figure it out.
I guess Pat's only got one real flaw that I can think of. It's nothing that an audience would probably pick up on. It's not anything that affects our collective ability to make music. It's something that I'm not even sure the rest of the band has noticed yet. I'll share this with you, but don't say anything to Pat - I don't want to embarrass him or anything, right?
He doesn't laugh at my jokes.
Seriously.
Do you think maybe he's like, GuitarSavant or something?
Oh, well. Doug is still there. (Hi, Doug!)
